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China Friendly

In 2014 the China Friendly project is starting, supported by the Federal Agency for tourism of the Russian Federation, the Moscow City Committee on tourism and hotel industry and China's State Administration of Tourism .

China Friendly is a large scale project targeting all tourism services such as hotels, restaurants, museums, recreational centers and companies providing sightseeing tours and other tourist services within the framework of the “World Without Borders” Travel Association.

China Friendly Hotels is the first stage of the China Friendly program implementation, aiming to promote and better tourist services in Russia for guests from China.

The tourist flow from China to other countries is constantly increasing. The Chinese source market is deemed highly promising by industry experts. The incoming flow from China to Russia reached 1 072 000 in 2013, showing a 9,45% growth spurt comparing to the 2012 figures. 372 000 tourists from China visited Russia in 2013 (8,4% growth compared to 2012 figures).

204 009 Chinese tourists visited Russia in the first quarter of 2014, putting China on the first place among all incoming tourism markets to Russia.

Chinese tourists have very specific accommodation requirements due to cultural differences and a serious language barrier. These requirements are not taken into account by the vast majority of Russian hotels. Incidentally, the hotels that match those requirements have no way of reaching their target market in China.

Meanwhile in European countries tourist infrastructure reorientation to accommodate Chinese tourists has become a trend. For example, similar programs are already put into effect in Italy and Spain.

Taking Chinese guests’ cultural differences into account and making them feel more like home is very important to our own country’s tourism industry development and increased marketability of Russia’s tourist product.